I'm Going to My Happy Place… The Far, Far Range from Slime Rancher.

According to XBox’s statistics, I’ve played more than 72 hours of Slime Rancher. That feels about right.
I’ve mentioned before that Winter in New England is one of the forgotten circles of Hell. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and create the reality you want to live in. The place I want to be my reality is The Far, Far Range from Slime Rancher. I want to live in a place inhabited by greedy slime and stupid chickens.
My husband would pick up Slime Rancher every so often and ask aloud, “How do you win this game?”
Winning isn’t the point. Not for me at least. Sure you could get all the achievements or, like me, aim to finish the Slimepedia. However, I find myself picking up Slime Rancher, not for the challenge of finishing it but for the feeling playing it. I just want to play. The dopey Slimes just want to play (and eat, they eat a lot).
Often you can watch delighted slimes bounce and bounce with big grins across their face until they soar off the edge of the landscape. Bye…Monomi Park managed to create a game that, much like the games children play, is about how much fun it can be to play. Play is silly, delightful, and relaxing like spending time with Slime Rancher.
There are features and challenges, upgrades and locked doors. I only casually care about those. The additional options allow for excuses to wander and explore. Just like pretending to be an archeologist as a child, all I needed was a reason to go places I hadn’t gone before. Slime Rancher is the virtual version of the woods behind my house.

If I can’t (won’t) go anywhere this winter, then pretending in Slime Rancher is the next best thing.

In the press release below the developer, Monomi Park, outlines the basics and the features of Slime Rancher. My personal favorite is the first on the list of features, “Vacuum things up and shoot them out: gameplay driven by two simple actions.”

Description

Slime Rancher is the tale of Beatrix LeBeau, a plucky, young rancher who sets out for a life a thousand light years away from Earth on the ‘Far, Far Range’ where she tries her hand at making a living wrangling slimes. With a can-do attitude, plenty of grit, and her trusty vacpack, Beatrix attempts to stake a claim, amass a fortune, and avoid the continual peril that looms from the rolling, jiggling avalanche of slimes around every corner.
Each day will present new challenges to players as they attempt to amass a great fortune in the business of slime ranching. While players are free to approach these challenges however they wish, a typical day might look like this:

You wake at the crack of dawn and get to watering the crops at the ranch. Some slimes are vegetarian, after all. Then it’s time to gather up the plumpest hens from the chicken coop. Some slimes are totally not vegetarian, after all.
Next, you’re off to feed slimes their breakfast over at the slime corrals so they don’t get too out of hand during the day. Hungry slimes get jumpy. Jumpy slimes can’t be contained.
With your ranch set for the day, it’s time to begin exploring the untamed wilds of the Far, Far Range. Along the way, you’ll encounter slimes you’ve never seen before, discover a new type of veggie to cultivate back at the ranch, and narrowly avoid certain doom in a valley of burly, feral slimes.
With the sun setting, it’s time to head back to the ranch, rustle up some dinner for your slimes, and try and figure out just how the heck you’ll keep these new slimes that seem to, well, explode all the time.
But you can do this. You had the courage to travel a thousand light years away from home to make a living as a slime rancher. Slimes that go boom? No problem. Slimes that burn with a radioactive aura? Bring it on. Slimes that wiggle their butts? Wait, do slimes even have butts?Let’s get ranching.

Features

Vacuum things up and shoot them out: gameplay driven by two simple actions

Manage a bustling eco-system of slimes who have wants, needs, and emotions that drive their behavior

Customize your ranch however you choose with slimes, corrals, gardens, silos, and more

Grow crops and raise chickens back on the ranch or forage in the wilds of the Far, Far Range

Use slime science to combine and create new slime species

Embrace total freedom to choose where to explore, which slimes to ranch, and how you’ll stake your claim

There have been a series of expansions since the original release in 2016 (yeah, I know, I’m late). Each release with a video to introduce the expansion of the world. THE WORLD GETS BIGGER!
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